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A cool breeze wafts over the docks in the evening's twilight, carrying the tang of salt air and a hint of restrained rain. The boardwalk creaks in the tide, the sound faint under the carousing hordes of sailors (and their kindred spirits) in the nearby tavern. Said noise grows suddenly louder as a hatch opens up and a becloaked pegasus flies out, unusual only in that it's not under her own power.

"An' don't come back 'til you got them bits, freeloader!"

Stormdancer looks a bit dazed, landing in a pile of tangled limbs and cloth, followed by a *flump* as a set of mostly-empty saddlebags follow her arc and land across her muzzle.

Things need to fall less in this town, decides Rising Chaos as a full grown pony just narrowly misses her. She's wearing a thick cloak, complete with hood as well as her new band around her foreleg. She takes a moment to examine the pony who just dropped by. "Hello there," she says, before her conscience creeps in, "you alright?" She nudges the pegasus a bit, to wake her up.

If one were to listen carefully, they might hear a noise layered among the creak of the boardwalk: a *splash* *splash* *splash* that is reminiscent of a rock skipping across the water… if the stone was the size of a coracle. A really sharp ear might even hear what might be the giggle of a filly - but would any of the Harborite foals be so foolish as to swim under the boardwalks in the evening without help around?

Stormdancer flails and flops over onto her side as she further unbalances. "'m blind!" (The strap of her saddlebags fell just perfectly to cover her eyes.) "Knew green schouldn't've never been a drink!" Indeed, if a chroma could have a scent… "E'en th' fisssh 're laughin'."

Rising-Chaos raises a skeptical eyebrow to the recumbent pony. "I see," she sneers, lifting the bags off Stormdancer's muzzle. Carefully she steps around the drunk. "Yes, well, I see you are well off, I will take my leave." She steps towards the steps leading down from the boardwalk, taking a phial out of a pocket in her cloak.

The splashing pauses for a bit, then resumes, going from one pillar of the boardwalk to another in what sounds like a zigzag pattern. The splashes don't seem to match the frequency of the waves, and they certainly sound more energetic than the normal waves.

Stormdancer gaaaaaasps as her vision is restored! A miracle! The appropriate gratitude can only be expressed in one way - a galloping glomp intent on leading into an inebriated hug from the wide-eyed pegasus. "'shankuuuuuu magic purple-"; - At this point, there's probably -some- sort of impact, but there's all that water nearby to cushion things, right?

Rising-Chaos swears she thought something about fewer things falling in this town, not /more/! She's tackled right off the steps and into the water. The two ponies enter the water in a great splash, with Chaos struggling to get free. Break free she does, and out of the water she stomps, a furious expression on her face. "What was that all about?" She growls, looking about for the phial she dropped.

The splashing stops, and all that can be heard from the ocean is the lapping of waves… and the quiet sound of something surfacing every so often. The sound, if it can be distinguished, is slowly coming closer, but is still a modest distance from the ponies in the water.

The blue pegasus yelps as she's suddenly -wet- and -cold- and… not quite sober, but the classic remedy does lend itself to a bit more focus. Relatively speaking. She blinks, and grins, and blinks, and treads water with her cloak floating out behind her as she responds.

"Dunno! But it was fun!" Stormdancer's wings flutter in the water, kicking up ripples and splashes. "Wanna go agaaaaain?" Like the first victim in a horror movie, unaware of the tiny menace approaching under the surface!

Rising-Chaos shoots Storm a glare, "No, preferably never again." She hisses at the new pony, "Now, help me find the phial you made me drop, it's very important." She glares at the water below, trying to find anything hinting at the item she's lost. If only something could be done, it was a rather important item. With the lack of succes, the scowl on Chaos' face grows. She growls at Storm again, "This is all your fault."

Another period of quiet, this time without any other noises. After a moment or two of feeling the waves coming in and out, Stormdancer might notice that there's a third current, and this one is going *upward*. Even if she doesn't notice that, she undoubtedly notices when a very small geyser of water flips her cloak over her head!

Stormdancer -POUTS- at the unicorn, ears flopping down to look remorseful and adorable. Granted, her puppy-face hasn't worked since she was a filly, but it seems like a good idea at the time! She holds it out, waiting for a response-

And is blinded again, giving out a startled 'AWP!' that soon turns into a blub as the mare confirms that yes, panicked flailing and measured movements to help one stay afloat are very different things.

Rising-Chaos flips Storm's cloak back to it's normal position. "Look, just help me find my phial, then I'll find a way to warm us up, okay?" She sighs, not thinking it unusual for bursts of water to shoot up like that. She's familiar with books, not nature.

And down the boardwalk come a pair of Mysterious Wanderers. Rising Chaos will recognize them immediately: Spindrift and Brume, ever the inseperable pair. The others may only see a pair of unusually tall ponies whose color schemes favor cooler tones and who wear thick hooded cloaks, surely nothing to be suspicious about!

Brume is cheerful and chatty, although there are lines under his eyes and a slowness in his step that suggests a weariness beneath that cheer. "You're right," he's saying as they come into earshot, at least if one makes an effort. "It is taking longer than we thought, but we've found something else to concern ourselves with in the meantime. Try and focus on the present. Other matters…" He trails off and gazes out over the water. "… aren't going anywhere, are they?"

Spindrift, sullen and with a gaze downcast, looks tired as well, and moves without much direction. "No. And that's not as encouraging as you think it is," she says. A moment later, and she snaps her gaze up, glancing down the boardwalk. There's Rising Chaos. Both Mysterious Wanderers recognize the unicorn readily enough and change their demeanor- Spindrift steeling her expression, lifting her head, and feigning detachment, while Brume lights up with a smile.

"Hello, miss Chaos!" he calls down the boards. "A fine evening for a stroll, isn't it?"

A sandy patch appears in the water right next to Storm and Chaos, followed by a pair of purply-blue ears and a pair of slate green eyes. The eyes glance from the unicorn to the pegasus and back, then the rest of the head surfaces, showing the sandy patch to actually be a sleek mane. "'Scuse me, mith, but ith thith yourth?" The filly-sounding voice is slightly lisping because of the phial held in this new pony's mouth.

Stormdancer looks confused. "Help you find your file? Your fail? Your tail? Your-" New ponies! Bobbing in the water, she raises a hoof to wave eagerly at them, only keeping from tipping over by fanning her wings out again just under the surface. And another pony! The formerly waving hoof goes to point at the filly, the pegasus declaring her to be "Tiny!", followed by some variety of squee.

Rising-Chaos looks over to Brume and Spindrift, smiling to the latter. "Hello, it would be nicer if I wasn't soaking wet, and how are you?" She replies, making an effort to sound happy. when the little seapony pops up right beside her, she jumps. Chaos takes a deep breath to settle herself, then accept the phial, "why thank you, yes it is. I don't believe I've seen you before, I'm Rising Chaos." Her smile is only slightly forced.

Spindrift stays quiet since she knows how this is going to go already and she doesn't feel like wasting everybody's time. Brume, though, is all smiles as he sidles up to stand near Rising. The two have not yet noticed the ones in the water. "Wet's a good look on you," suggests Brume with a wink. "Don't you know? Wet manes are ~all~ the rage these days. As for us, we're doing perfectly well, thank y-"

By now he has looked out towards the water, towards Stormdancer, having intended to greet her but instead having spotted the seapony beside her. Spindrift did the same moments before. Both Spindrift and Brume stop and stare at the filly seapony for several long, silent moments.

Both them backpedal rapidly, putting some twenty feet between themselves and Rising Chaos and the edge of the boardwalk, and talk to eachother in hushed, hurried tones.

"Name's Thunini, but you can just call me 'Thu' or 'Nini'," beams the little filly! "Nice to meet you, miss Chaos!" Glancing over at Storm, she redirects her cheerful grin at the floating pegasus. "Hi, I'm Thunini! What's your name?"

"I'm-" Stormdancer takes a deep breath, and seems to wobble a bit (though that might just be the surf) before plunking her face into the water for a moment. Another gaaasp of air, followed by a pout. "- losing my buzz." Then blinks at the filly, various observations slowly filtering through her foggy perceptions. "You swim good for somepony with no legs, Nini!" Grin. "'m Stormdancer! But you can call me Stormie!"

Rising-Chaos glares suspiciously at Brume and Spindrift as they retreat. Slowly she turns back to the ponies in the water. She dips her phial into the water, getting a full thing of water. she looks up to the pegasus. "So you're Stormchaser? Let's get you out of that cold water, I want to get dry and I'm not gonna leave you there." She extends a hoof to Stormie, feeling much better now that her phials been returned to her.

Spindrift and Brume reach some sort of impasse, stare at eachother for a moment, and march right back to where they were before in unison, romp romp romp. Spindrift stares at Thunnini, expression flat.

Brume flashes Rising a grin as though nothing were amiss, then turns towards the ponies in the water. "Good evening, madam, young mistress." He turns slightly towards Rising. "Your friend appears to be in the late states of inebriation. Do you need a hand fishing her out? They get stubborn sometimes when the illness has progressed to such a degree."

Spindrift gradually tears her gaze away from Thunnini, though not until she has turned her head and, indeed, her whole body away from the wee seapony. She looks down the street instead, mouth drawn into a worried grimace. Her earlier, aloof air has given way to one of obvious concern.

Thunnini giggles. "You're kinda silly, Stormie - I like that!" The little filly gives Stormie a big hug, which partially hides the fact that the filly is tugging the drunk pegasus closer to Chaos.

Stormdancer grins. "I think I'm warming up!" She pokes at her nose with one hoof, eyes crossing as she tries to focus on it. Then looks concerned. "… Or going numb." Poke. Poke. Pokepokepoke- Pause. Looks at the tall ponies, then at the filly. And back. And again.

She stage-whispers to the little one, partway behind one hoof (and quite likely audible to the others anyway): "I think you're in trouuuuuble." And goes with the flow! Or at least the tugs, drifting more-or-less in Chaos' direction. All while protesting with a grin: "'m not silly, I'm awesomependous!"

Rising-Chaos pulls Stormie out of the water, grunting with the effort. "Let's get you dried off, what got you thrown out of the tavern anyways?" She turns to Brume a confused look on her face, "what's wrong with you? A seapony gonna get you all bent out of shape?" She asks, ignoring the fact that she was freake dout by the same seapony.

Brume jumps at the insinuation, or so it would seem. "Seapony? Hardly! It's just an unusual sight, that's all. And one so young, too." He leans down to help tug Stormdancer ashore, and despite his gangly appearance, he's still as strong as one might expect an adult stallion to be. "Not exactly how you expect a drunken sailor's story to leap out of fiction and into your net, you see?"

Spindrift kneels at the boardwalk, then, looking back to Thunnini. She still wears that concerned disposition, although she's a bit awkward about it; clearly this is not her forte. "Thuni, you said your name was?" she asks. "Are you… lost? There aren't many of your kind living here, after all…"

"It's ThuNIni," the seafilly clarifies. "I'm not lost; I just like swimming near the surface, and this place has the neatest obstacles to swim around!" She ponders the older pony's words for a moment. "If you're wondering about shelter and food, I do have some hidey-holes around here, and I keep them supplied with tasty and healthy snacks." She gives a cheerful shrug. "That way, even if I stay up too late and can't make it home, I still have a place to stay."

One sodden pegasus is pulled out of the water, giggling. "Seaponies? -I'm- th' innie- ineed- drunk one here!" Then flops onto her flank once out of the drink. "I think?" Her face screws up in concentration as she lays there, dripping and listening, synapses -almost- catching up.

Rising-Chaos facehoofs at the drunken pegasus, "I need tot ake you somewhere and clean you up, where do you live?" She secretes the phial of water about her person and checks herself. From under the cloak she pulls a small saddlebag, opening it to reveal a sodden book. At this point, Chaos isn't even surprised, she just closes the bag, growls in frustration and shoots a new glare at Stormie.

Brume smiles, taking a moment to see Stormdancer is nice and safe, and not drowning, and is probably doting on her too long because Spindrift flashes him in a harsh glance before too long. With a grin, he sits up and draws back, standing at a respectful distance. Spindrift eyes him for a moment longer before looking back to Thunnini.

"Thunnini, of course. My mistake," she says, and then watches the seafilly for several long moments. "Take care that you don't stay too long, though. This can be a dangerous place for…" Her voice falters and she glances about, having abruptly run out of words.

Brume steps in and reaches down, drawing his companion up. He offers her a brief smile and then smoothly interposes himself between Spindrift and the boards' edge, and therefore any potentially confusing/annoying conversation with the cheerful filly. "Miss Stormdancer, was it?" he asks, of the pegasus. "I'm afraid miss Rising here has a point. You really should have someone see you home. I assure you, a proper bed is a much more comfortable place to rest than the -sea- bed."

Thunnini headtilts at Brume's words, then takes on a quizzical expression when Spindrift steps in. This place, dangerous? Yes, there's lots of land-ponies around, but the water's fine and there's no sign of aquatic predators around. The only thing she might have to worry about is somepony trying to capture her, and she's a nimble enough swimmer not to be too worried about it.

Still, it looks like the land-ponies are going to be going inland soon. "Good night, miss Chaos! Nice meeting you, Stormie! Take care, two ponies whose names I don't know~!" And with that, Nini starts idly swimming backward. watching the others as she slowly drifts away from shore.

Stormdancer bliiiinks at the non-seaponies before waving a hoof in the general direction of the tavern. "There!" And then her face falls. "- But not no more. Boss's bits didn't come last month 'r this'n." The mare trails off into dark muttering. "Sent th' -meds- that don't bucking -work- but not the -bits-…" And drops her head against the boardwalk with a thunk and a dull "Ow" before waving limply at the seafilly.

Rising-Chaos pulls stormchaser to her hooves. "So you have no home?" a look of concern crosses her face, then a smile. "I guess you could come back to mine until you're back on your feet if you like." It looks like Chaos is starting her pony collection again.

Spindrift lifts a hoof to wave back to Thunnini, but stays quiet. She still looks worried, worried.

Brume offers the seafilly a wave as well. "Take care, young miss! Enjoy yourself!" He then turns towards Stormdancer and Rising, with a grin. "Ahhh, not the first time I've heard you offer your hospitality to others, miss Chaos. You're quite the generous soul." Turning towards the water with a slight grin, he reaches up and rubs his chin with a hoof. "Would that all the ladiest I met were so eager to invite me back to their place, ah ha-" His snicker is cut off as Spindrift nudges him in the flank, but his grin cannot be so readily dissuaded.

Thunnini ducks underwater for a bit, then surfaces behind a piling so she can look at the ponies without been easily seen. "Nice ponies here," she whispers to herself. "Maybe I'll stay in the area for a while…"

"Back 'n m' wings," Stormdancer corrects morosely, before the rest of the words finish registering. Her mood bounces right back again as she pulls Chaos into a nice, big, bone-bruising hug. She -might- be the source of a happy squeal.

Rising-Chaos hugs back weakly, "come now miss." She tries to direct Storm down the street towards her house. "Let's get you cleaned up and warm and then to bed." She offers a small wave back to Brume as she goes. she turns back to Storm, trying to keep her attention. "So what do you do for a living?"

Brume waves back, smiling cheerfully. "Take care, miss Rising! Have a good evening!" He turns towards Spindrift after a moment, smiling still, and the two resume their walking down the boardwalk, silent in their own ways.

Stormdancer passes a cheery wave to the Mysterious Wanderers as she's herded off, before cycling back down into a low mood. "-S'posed- to be a coory- current-" a mutter "- d'liv'rypony. But can't -fly- so dunno." More mutters follow, unintelligible. "- Can still drink!" She perks up. "'ve got drinks? Boss'll send the money, he said-"

Rising-Chaos rolls her eyes, "a courier who can't fly, so you're out of a job." She reasons, it doesn't look like Storm is in condition to be doing anything. She keeps walking into town, "no, I ahve o drinks at my house, unless you mean something other than water."

Stormdancer finally notices her hoof dragging something- Oh, hey, her saddlebags! Her pace falters as she tries to kip them up while keeping up with Chaos. "'s not my fault! Feathers're growing back in." As if reminded of them, she sweeps her wings forward to inspect them, somehow managing to not trip onto her face during all this. "Still no prime'ries," she growls, as if personally insulted.

Rising-Chaos slows down to give Storm time to recover. She raises an eyebrow, "what happened?" she shivers even in her heavy cloak, and a small light appears at the tip of her horn, warming her up.

Stormdancer hunches in on herself, picking up the pace and passing Chaos (for the nonce.) Only offering one word. "Dragon."

Rising-Chaos grimaces, she can only imagine how terrifying that could be. "That must have hurt, I could offer you a job for a while, until your feather grow back, if you like." She offers tentatively.

Stormdancer unclenches her eyes and slows down again, muttering something in (horribly accented) Gryphish before looking back. With a blink, and a hopeful tone in her voice: "Doing what?"

Rising-Chaos forces a smile. "Research assistant, I'm in this town to do research after all, I need somepony to fetch and carry." She continues through town, projecting light from her horn, eliciting a small hiss. "You get food, accommodations and a decent pay, what do you think?"

"That's… -really- generous!" Stormdancer beams at the unicorn. It probably says something that she doesn't follow that up with 'what's the catch'. Instead, it's: "Sounds like it could be fun! Oh, like in Daring Do and the Cove of Candles?" She pivots around and prances backwards, facing Chaos. "Some've the sailor-types were talking about secret treasures, I'm sure!"

Rising-Chaos prances right past Stormdancer, having an assistant again felt good. "I can't promise fun, but it's better than no work. You won't get much treasure either." the bounce leaves her step, as the pros of the job don't seem to add up. "The offers open, it won't be a life of adventure. It's mostly colelcting what I ask you to, getting a phial of water every morning at least and making sure my lab is taken care of."

Stormdancer aws, but picks right back up, trotting behind Chaos. Good little minion-to-be! "Sounds simple 'nough! What's the water for?"

Rising-Chaos appears surprised at the question. "It's a little charm I keep in my house, keeps me stable, this place is a little hectic." She suddenly looks nervous, eyes going from side to side. "Not that I'm not stable anyways, I'm quite powerful really," nervous laugh. "I just like to be able to relax, nothing wrong with that, right?"

Stormdancer looks around at the town as they're passing through it, as if seeing it for the first time. "Think I heard something about that? Main street exploding?" She hums, looking thoughtful. "… Think I was up to orange 'bout then…" - Speaking of relaxing…

Rising-Chaos yawns, it's later than she would hope. "Come, lets get home, I need some sleep."